A Change of Seasons
by Aprito
Summary: "Oh wow, did you tell him to fuck off?" Sakura turns back around to Sasori, still more or less tied to that chair, but Ino slaps her upper arm. "Ow, that hurts!" "Sakura!" "Kakashi, I need a drink." Same Age AU/Body Swap AU for SasoSaku Month 2017


Four things Sakura becomes aware of this morning.

The first and fastest conclusion would be that this is definitely not the same bed she fell asleep in, last night. No headache that usually would accompany her bouts of drinking when Ino was in the mood – then again, she doesn't even remember going out with her after her usual hospital shift. What she does remember is walking into her parents' home, slipping into a loose t-shirt and finishing another chapter her favourite sappy novel.

The black fabric clings to her form, and her second assessment is that it's warm, warmer than she is used to, warmer than the late fall temperatures that her village housed. She fumbles around for her novel, no doubt that she placed it next to her pillow, last night, but there was no soft cover that her hands would brush against, no edges that would gently press into her palm. The feeling that something's not right dawns on her, that she isn't supposed to be here-

The third realization comes when she rubs her eyes, hoping to clear her blurred vision completely, that she was stuck in another restless dream and just happened to have fallen off the bed, overheating in the cocoon she's formed out of her blankets.

Nothing happens, in fact, and her eyes begin to focus on the hand in front of her instead, fixated on a particular pattern of butterfly calluses dancing along the edge of her palm, feminine fingers so slim that they never could possibly match her broad ones.

Sakura draws the blanket back, letting her bare feet touch the ground, unaware of the sand pooling at the cracks of the rounded window, unaware of how the weight of her muscles was barely there, unaware of how the structure of the room was widely off. As if in trance, she opens the door, letting the cool breeze of the darkened hallway brush against her face, and she stumbles in the direction of the soft winds, drowsy, her tan hands leaned against the walls for support.

She's sweating, she realises, but she bears no migraine, no nausea, no sign that she was either hungover or suffering from a mild fever. Her hands continue to fumble against the rough textured walls, until she comes across a set of stairs. Faint, but powerful voices sounding from below, and she questions, just for a moment, if she's been kidnapped-

 _Of course_ she neglected to look for something to defend herself with, and now she's nearly run into whatever is down there.

Her fears are confirmed when the soft sounds draw closer, not to far off from where she was standing, but not close enough to make out how many would be down there, and too quiet to make out what they were talking about.

Laughter erupts from downstairs, and her anxiety flares up again.

She could turn back around to fetch a couple weapons, anything really, but she doesn't even remember which direction her room was in, so she- she goes forward, instead, her feet taking one step at a time, praying that she wouldn't be making any noises.

It is another voice, however, coming from behind her, that truly clears her vision, completely.

„About time you woke up, my cherubic grandson. I was beginning to think you left already." The elderly woman says, her rough timbre as chipper as they come.

Chiyo.

 _Wait a moment-_

A fourth and final conclusion lets her realise she's not herself, that she occupies the thoughts of someone else - someone she knew.

Sakura turns around to reply, she really wants to, but a sudden wave of headaches cuts her off. She-

Not even her mind lets her finish that one.

* * *

„You don't think he's sick, do you?"

„Don't piss your pants, Kankuro, Chiyo-baa-sama already said he's fine."

„Geez, how kind of you, sister."

„She did say he fainted _before_ falling down the stairs-"

Sakura grunts. The previous voices from before, now booming in front of her, certainly aren't helping her headache.

„See? He's not dead. Calm down."

„Chiyo-baa-sama! Chiyo-baa-sama!"

She opens and closes her eyes immediately, the brightness of the drafty room doing little to help the pounding in her head. Sakura hears shuffling next to her, and when she brings up the courage to peak her eyes open again, Lady Chiyo, the same Lady Chiyo that scared the living _bejeezus_ out of her not too long ago, is leaning over her.

"You gave us quite the scare there." Cooling mint green chakra pulsates through her head, and Sakura allows herself to relax just for a little bit. The corners of Chiyo's mouth tilt upwards "Trying to outbid your own grandma, aren't you now Sasori?"

That is, until she's become once again aware of her predicament. Her eyes widen.

Sasori.

They think she's-

With as much energy as she could muster, she moves to sit up straight, only mildly cursing herself for re enabling the stones that are thrown against the insides of her skull.

Her voice comes out _deep_ , slightly raspy even, to her surprise. "Chiyo-baa-sama. I-"

 _What is she even supposed to say?_ she thinks, her mind running through possible options that wouldn't make her sound like a _literal_ demon spirit possessing the body of an already _figurative_ demon.

Hastily, maybe because the Sand siblings and Chiyo were boring holes into her, she speaks.

"You got it wrong, I'm not-..." she begins, then falls quiet again, latent nervosity clawing it's way into her mind under the curious stares of people she isn't exactly close to. It'd probably help if she wasn't currently suffering from an oncoming migraine.

"I-...I'm not Sasori." she says, eventually, her voice as stable as can be. She taps a finger to her chest. "I don't know where he is. It's me, Sakura."

Sakura looks into the round, hoping that she actually delivered this with sincerity. She knew Chiyo and Kankuro were unreadable at times, not including the pranks that the former pulls and the weirdest bursts of overreaction the latter shows in non-formal settings.

Temari blinks, and blinks again. The deadbeat silence was eerie, really, so Sakura attempts to get her point across once more.

"Really-.."

And then bursts into what might have been the loudest fit of laughter she's ever heard from the tall woman.

"Wow, he's really out of it!" Temari wipes an imaginary tear from her eye. "You sure you're not having a concussion?"

"It's not too bad, sis'", Kankuro finally pipes in, and she makes a notice that he's changed his face paint again. "But he's never addressed Lady Chiyo like that before."

"True, I suppose." Temari replies, barely over the ridiculousness of the entire situation. "Still, listen, kid, I know we both haven't seen our girlfriends in a while, but you're not even anywhere _near_ a believable performance. You did fall down those stairs-."

"I wonder if he's activated a new part of-" Kankuro cuts himself off abruptly, and Sakura faintly remembers that Sasori told her once on how insistent the middle sand sibling was on getting tips from him.

It's probably for the best not to prove anything in front of these two, Sakura thinks - As far as she knows, Sasori didn't interact with any of the three sand siblings to begin with.

Chiyo, who hasn't even said anything so far, just continues to stare at her over the bickering siblings. She needed to get the other two out of the house if she wanted to convince the elderly woman. That leaves-

"Chiyo-baa," Sakura begins again, narrowing her eyes at the duo in front of her. "What are they doing in my house?"

 _Our house_ , she wants to say, but she really needed to be alone with Chiyo in order to make this work. _Sorry, guys._

Kankuro breathes a sigh of relief. "There he is."

Chiyo looks at her once more, before he gently touches Temari's shoulder, urging her to leave the two of them alone. "We'll bring the reports to the Kazekage, later."

Sakura stays where she is as Chiyo walks the two to the door, not before reminding Kankuro that her puppetry books still needed to be returned.

When Chiyo comes back, her tone is off.

"Proof."

"Huh?" Sakura answers, confused at serious shift of tone from the elderly woman.

"Something's off about you, I can tell." Chiyo begins, joining her near the couch once more, her hand laying on Sakura's forehead. "Though Temari isn't wrong, it might just really be a concussion. In any case, we should go to the hospital for the scan as soon as possible."

"Wait, I-..." Since when was she so prone to stuttering? "I can prove it. Ask me about something Sasori couldn't possibly know."

Chiyo frowns. "You want me to ask you about things I never told my grandson?"

"Well, does he ever talk about me?" Sakura retorts, not being able to imagine Sasori being the type of person to expose to his grandmother how they basically did anything that _wasn't_ research every other day.

Chiyo gives her another look and Sakura holds up her hands in defeat.

"Actually, there's something I know Sasori's not aware of - I found them while I was still under Tsunade...and I never brought it up." Sakura says, same hands fiddling with a strand of hair under Chiyo's scrutinizing look. "I'm not sure you know, either."

"...And what would that be?" Chiyo asks again, her stare melting into confusion.

Sakura isn't exactly sure whether that's appropriate, really; she isn't that close to Chiyo, either. She's been in Suna before, for a couple weeks after the war, helping her establish the infrastructure within the newly built general hospital and training the up and coming medics. The woman had been cold, at first, refusing to work with a discipline of Tsunade - it was not until she's reversed a poison that Sasori made that Chiyo opened up to her, just a little bit. Guess, she really has to drop a bomb if she wants to make a real impact.

She sighs.

"Sakumo Hatake."

Chiyo freezes, just barely, and Sakura takes that as a sign of interest. "The White Fang of Konoha. I read about the operation that involved your-..." She isn't sure how to word that one without awakening unpleasant memories, a few of the things she hasn't been insensitive towards just yet. "Sasori's parents. Sakumo had already been dead for a couple years when they were attacked, but both villages mention him in the reports. The report also mentioned that a lot of shinobi escaped the joint mission when the enemy arrived, and so his parents…" She trails off when she sees Chiyo's expression, knowing she didn't need to finish that one. "It was an ambush, but Konoha back then had been ashamed to admit so. We-...we used Sakumo's name as a code for it. I don't know what happened to Sakumo, Kakashi-sensei never brought him up."

Sakura grows quiet then, searching Chiyo's face for any form of reaction. The elderly woman was a lot like Sasori in that regard. Hard to read, that is. She's been told by Ino before that Suna people tend to be emotionally constipated - she truly realised that the first time she met Sasori after the chuunin exams again, him refusing to speak to her for a week the moment she's corrected him on the proper procedure of dissecting a fish for it's oils. He eventually got around to greeting her in the mornings.

Sakura's not sure if she can wait this long.

"Chiyo-baa-sama, I hope that wasn't-"

"I believe you." Chiyo says, her features lighter in comparison to the initial doubt she's sent her way. "I'm not sure whether you're Sakura Haruno, either - but I trust your words, for now. Sasori couldn't live with himself if he knew. Or stay in the village for that matter."

Sakura tenses at the underlying threat, ever so aware of Suna not being found of strangers, Naruto withheld from that equation. The air around her was dry, and her throat was beginning to ache for water.

Both know they had one answered question left in the room.

"If I'm in this body...then where's the real Sasori?" Sakura wonders aloud, turning her gaze away from the retired kunoichi to focus it back on her tan hands, tracing her fingers against the butterfly calluses along her palm.

If she was occupying this body, could it be that-

"You help out the slug princess, right?" Chiyo begins, moving around the room in search for the documents that the they were supposed to turn in to Gaara. "Knowing my angelic grandson, he's probably getting you fired from every available institution and degree possible. He's a charming boy."

Chiyo chuckles at Sakura's slow transition into pure panic.

"It'll take us five days to reach Konoha, assuming he's not on his way here already." Chiyo holds a stack of papers, several notes on unit developments and herbal researches neatly scribbled on them. "I'll get us the permission from the Kazekage, and someone else to accompany us. I'm not the youngest sport anymore, as you can see."

"Five days!?" Sakura grabs onto her curly red locks in frustration, tears threatening to spill. Okay, she was his girlfriend, and they kept a pretty stable long term distance relationship through paper - she could trust him not to make her lose face, she thinks.

But then there were the things Ino told her about her stay with Temari in Suna last year - that Sasori was basically being coddled in village, his talents too valuable for him to turn his back on the sand shinobi, therefore letting him basically spit into authorities' faces on any other given day.

Tsunade's not anywhere as nice, though, not even towards her - not to mention her already shaky relationships with a bunch of the Rookie Nine, right now.

Slowly, her hands melt down to hide her face as she lets out a groan.

At least Chiyo was nice.

* * *

Turns out that Ino wasn't lying about the coddling part, with the exception that that didn't extend to Chiyo herself, the woman having now pretended to be dead _twice_ in order to get her attention whenever she spaced out to worry about her potentially new disastrous life.

She's discovered quickly that she was an absolutely _terrible_ actor, breaking her cool facade the moment she's bumped into a civilian girl on the way to the Kazekage tower, profusely apologizing to the girl in question.

Which only prompted more girls to somehow find their way into her self-prescribed path of shame around Suna, resulting a very amused Chiyo and a very ticked off Temari.

Gaara took the news well, albeit confused, promising to notifying Kakashi. as soon as possible.

They were closing in on Konoha now, a week of travel with the two other women, and so far she's woken up everyday with no changes in sight.

Sakura doesn't even want to think about what chaos could possibly have accumulated during one week.

She's gotten closer to the Suna kunoichi during that time, Chiyo willing to tell her all sorts of stories about her own 20s, whereas Temari openly admitted to hating Sasori's guts, ever since she's had to work with him during the Sand's attack on Konoha. He would try to boss her around, when he was barely 2 months Gaara's senior, and it was only Kankuro that had kept her from shredding him alive. "He's a spoiled brat. Don't really understand how you're keeping up with him." Temari at some point muttered when Chiyo was buying for supplies, Sakura shrugging in reply.

"Only an hour away, now." Sakura says, the familiarity of the roads signaling her that she was not too far from meeting her possible demise. "30 minutes, if we hurry."

"You go ahead, I'll stay with Lady Chiyo." Temari waves in her direction, putting out the fire they've made overnight.

"Chiyo-baa-sama, are you ok?" Sakura asks, eyeing the elderly woman as she's looking through some sort of document. While she's lost her raw physical strength, she and Sasori both shared perfect chakra control, and she's been using that to do routine check ups on herself and the other two women (Temari begrudgingly agreed after Sakura convinced her it was for practice, grumbling about how she wouldn't normally let Sasori touch her with a ten foot pole).

Chiyo looks up for a brief moment, before returning her attention back to the document at hand. "We'll be right behind you, dear."

"Thank you." she says, before sprinting off into the sunrise peaking behind through the trees.

Sasori's body had surprisingly okay amount of raw stamina, considering that he wasn't even anywhere near as fit as she was. She almost feels bad for initially assuming, and it hasn't even been one year since the last time they've seen each other.

Well, looks could deceive. He wasn't a highly ranked shinobi for nothing.

* * *

"Hey, we need your papers!" Sakura vaguely makes out the stunted cries of a surprised Kotetsu as she rushes past them through the gate, straight towards the Hokage tower, hoping that he would still be in the village.

Izumo is right behind her when she uses what little breath she had left to run towards Kakashi's office, uncaring to the demands of her needing to stop for an examination before entering the building.

Faintly, but growing larger in volume the closer she is to the office, she makes out a voice, _her voice_ -

"Just for long are you going to keep me here? I have no interest in Konoha's internal affairs. Much less being under the supervision of another hag."

"Why you little-!"

It might just have been the element of surprise that the sound of the door burst open provided that prevents Tsunade from completely obliterating Sakura (her body) right then and there. Well that, and Shizune's futile grip on her mentor.

"Tsunade-sama..." Sakura manages to make out between enduring her pained lungs and short breaths, the adrenaline from before now failing to mask how dizzy she suddenly feels.

Alright, maybe looks aren't deceiving after all.

From somewhere in the room, Kakashi let's out an exasperated sigh.

"There she is."

The physical Sakura, across from her, gives her a look. "So you're the one who took my body."

In fact, her other self, or Sasori, really, was sitting on a chair in front of the Hokage, ankles and wrists sufficiently cutting off any chakra flow.

God, what did he _do_ in those past five days?

"No, no, no. It's me," Sakura, eventually, gathers enough strength to stand right back up, pointing at herself. "I'm Sakura."

Surely, she's experiencing some sort deja-vu, as the reaction of the five people present in the room with her, Sasori's scrutinizing stare included, are shrouded in silence. She didn't know whether his input would even help or not, if she's completely honest.

The silence doesn't hold on for too long, however.

"Oh my God, Sakura, are you in here!?" Ino wastes no time announcing herself, dragging a widely confused Temari and a widely amused Chiyo into the premise. Sakura turns around to look at the blonde(s), and makes quick notice of how crowded the small room was beginning to feel.

It takes a short moment for Ino to realise the person looking at her was in fact, Sakura.

Sakura waves, and Ino makes a face. "Really? We assumed you were being held prisoner in some hyper creepy lab."

"You're taking this surprisingly well." Sakura retorts, pointing at Sasori for emphasis. "Is this the reason you tied him up?"

"Actually, it was because you-" Ino crosses her arms. " _He_ not only managed to piss us all off, but also because he took great enjoyment out of nearly strangling Sai, beating Shikamaru at Shogi, and making Naruto cry."

"Oh wow, did you tell him to fuck off?" Sakura turns back around to Sasori, still more or less tied to that chair, but Ino slaps her upper arm. "Ow, that hurts!"

"Sakura!"

Tsunade rubs her temples. "Kakashi, I need a drink. If you would excuse me-"

"Actually, it would probably be for the best if everyone except for the people in question were to leave." Kakashi waves his hand of the general direction of the door, while his other was mimicking Tsunade's incoming. "You can sort this out later."

Ino wants to say something, but Temari is already on her heels, following Chiyo and Tsunade, who've already left to do whatever, and Izumo, who probably just went back to his post. "Call if you need us."

"Sure."

The door clicks shut, and Sakura's overcome by a strange feeling of finite.

Kakashi points his pen at Sasori, who was still constricted by the chakra shackles. "You can untie yourself."

The shackles fall off immediately, and Sasori rises, unfazed by Sakura giving him the stink eye. He opens his mouth, and her voice comes out once more. "Your _sensei_ insisted on it."

Behind his mask, Kakashi's eye crinkles into what would amount into a smile, if his face wasn't almost completely covered up to begin with.

"I assume the Kazekage was just as confused about this as we are."

"Yeah, but Gaara believes me, I guess." Sakura scratches her ear, while Sasori joins to stand beside her. "Did you believe him?"

"At first, I was a little overwhelmed with your change in attitude. I thought that was just a delirious fever, so I requested Shizune to contact Tsunade about it." Kakashi begins, his hands neatly tucked beneath his chin. "But it didn't go away, so we locked you away for interrogation. Ino wasn't able to confirm that you weren't a spy, and then Gaara's letter arrived."

"I don't expect anything less from the leaf." Sasori sneers beside her, and Kakashi's cheery expression remains unchanged.

"You look like you're in one piece. Ino's not that nice, either." Sakura pipes in, from a glance, her body was sprouting only a couple bruises here and there.

"Do you think it's a jutsu?" the silver-haired man asks, searching their faces for any sort of rational explanation.

Sasori chimes in before her. "I assume it had to be done by a third party, if that's the case."

Kakashi 'hmms' in response, in thought.

"What do you suppose we do, Hokage-sama? Just wait it out?" Sakura asks, and Kakashi flinches just briefly at the mention of his title.

"You could start searching for a cure, though we don't even have a lead, right now." He begins, his eye once more skimming over the message she recalled Gaara writing. "Consulting with both Tsunade and Lady Chiyo is probably for the best. Both of you stay in Konoha, in the meantime."

* * *

"Wait, hold on, at least fix your skirt." Sakura grumbles, evening out the black garment Sasori decides to wear today. A group of little girls passing by giggle at them, and Sakura feels her ears getting warm.

The circumstances couldn't possibly contain her excitement of their unintentional reunion, this year, as their schedules didn't really allow trips that would make the five day trips worthwhile.

If she's honest, the only thing disrupting her happiness would be that she actively isn't even looking at Sasori's face, but her own, green eyes uncharacteristically narrowed in contrast to her usually wide ones. She also, begrudgingly, makes notice that Sasori seemed to have grown taller, them now being two inches instead of just a scant inch apart.

"You look like you didn't even change out of my night shirt." Sasori replies in return, pinching the side of her torso in attempt mockery. At least, he retains his personality in the process.

"Ugh, what wouldn't I do for a shower." Sakura begins to walk into the direction of her parents' home, content with doing nothing else for the rest of the day. At the age of 20, you just start getting used to spending your free time between shifts either sleeping at home or being out drinking with your colleagues - as much as she is grateful for scarcity of dangerous missions ever since the war ended, she did miss her life outside of the walls of the village.

Sakura should really save that money for travelling, take Sasori along with her even.

"What _did_ you do to make Naruto cry?" she asks, out of the blue, Ino's comment popping into her mind.

"Nothing that I haven't said to people before." He says, nonchalantly, as if he isn't normally been responsible for ruining someone's life every other day.

"Yeah, but it would be coming out of _my_ mouth." Sakura chimes back. "What else did you do while I was gone?"

"I spent half of your time behind bars, Haruno."

"Cute." she says, rounding another corner. "I was worried you'd get me fired from the hospital."

"That doesn't sound too bad, actually."

"Don't even think about it."

* * *

Masquerading the physical appearance of someone who was above average in looks quickly proved itself to be very much appealing, Sakura has discovered in the past three days. She's always considered herself to be on the rather average side, in spite of her wildly unnatural hair color, but she's really feeling that now, the differences in how she was being perceived staggering.

Envy, she would call that state of being, if she wasn't currently the one exploiting it.

"But...we're all booked out, sir."

Case in point.

"Aw, surely you could get us a table?" Sakura's current target (victim) this night was the daughter of a highly popular yakiniku restaurant, one she normally never even got into without booking weeks in advance. "We won't be staying for too long, I promise."

Sakura winks at the blushing girl, who's quick to scribble something on a piece of paper, before leading them into the place. "Alright, but make sure you're done by 10."

"Sure thing, I'll get back to you, Manami-san." Sakura says, finally, making sure to brush against the girl's hand before letting her go.

Behind her, she can faintly hear Sasori gagging, no doubt boring daggers into that poor waitress back.

"Girls are cute, Sasori. You're just you."

"That performance was below me." Sasori replies, before taking a sip of green tea. "Thanks to you, I can never show my face around here, again."

"Hey, I got us a good table."

"I actually really hate you."

"I'm only paying back what I owe you." Sakura begins, pouring drips of oil on the grill. "Thanks to you, half of the village has it out for me now."

It was amazing, really, how many people Sasori was capable of offending at any given time, even with the additional cushion of having her face - Naruto crying only had been the tip of the iceberg, as Ino later passed on to her. (She might also add that Ino refused be indoors anywhere with her, never straining away from her 'Sasori is secretly a super serial killer that turns people into puppets' theory. Fair enough, she thinks.)

He snorts in response.

"So... any new updates on Lady Chiyo's side?" Sakura asks, distracting away from the previous topic at hand.

Sasori helps himself, setting out strips of meat and vegetables on the grill. "We can't really do anything that wouldn't kill this body in the process. It seems like my mind is utterly locked in."

"Ino did try to enter mine today, but without any luck." Sakura begins, laying out chopsticks. "It seems that whoever did this...they planned ahead."

"Whoever did this," Sasori stacks a couple of items on her plate, uncaring on how his was still empty. The loud chatter of the people around them was droning out his voice just barely. "Has a death wish."

"You think it might be a shinobi?" Sakura wonders aloud, chewing on a piece of lotus root. "Or an outsider?"

"It might be that snake bastard, for all we know."

"What reason would he have to do this?"

"He picks his subjects at random - a lot of suna shinobi were caught in his crossfire."

"Still…" Orochimaru seemed like a wild pick, but then again the jutsu apparently hasn't turned up any similar cases, no matter how many record books she's now spent going over, obviously unfamiliar to the village - It could really be another mad scientist that they've never even heard of.

"We'll find out who did this," Sasori chews on a strip of meat in between his (excellent, she has to admit) cooking, narrowing his eyes further "and end them."

"Hey Sakura, the meat's bad or something?"

"Huh?" Sakura turns around at the mention of her name to see-

Chouji and Shikamaru, of all people. They're not looking at her, though.

"You were making a face." Shikamaru chimes in, his monotone voice devoid of any _actual_ concern.

"Tenten wanted to know if you wanted to come over to our table. We got some space left." Chouji adds,turning smiling at her. "Your friend can come, too."

"You're from Suna, right?" Shikamaru asks her, making Sakura wonder how nobody remembered that Sasori had been part of the _ambush_ at the chuunin exams.

That, or Shikamaru is playing dumb for polite inquiry.

"We're good." Sasori says promptly, dumping soy sauce over his place. He glances in the general direction of where Chouji pointed at. "Tell that to Tenten."

"You sure you're alright?" Chouji asks, his eyes going back and forth between them. "Ino told me you were acting weird, so I wanted to make sure…"

Did Ino not fill them in on this? Then again, judging by how Chouji kept staring at her, it could just be that he considered her the problem.

It's sort of surreal, how utterly uncomfortable Sasori was around people he didn't know. She's never really noticed it before, considering most of their time spent was alone. She vaguely remembered him saying how much he disliked hanging around groups of people - save for working with the other units in the war - when they were younger, but she didn't suspect it would carry all the way into adulthood.

She interrupts him before he can throw out another snark "Sakura's been sick for the past week, and I thought a breath of fresh air would do her good." She smiles - uncharacteristically, but the majority of the rookie nine probably wouldn't remember him anyways - "We were going to leave soon, anyways."

"You're a medic?" Shikamaru raises one eyebrow at her comment.

"I'm also her boyfriend. You don't have to worry about her." Sakura tacks on, in case they required the clarification.

Sasori looks up then at her, in surprise, while her eyes were daring Shikamaru to call her out on it. - She was a terrible liar, but having Sasori's blank faced stare helped deliver a lot of fibs.

It also helps that Sasori buried his face in his arms.

Eventually, Shikamaru sighs.

"What a drag. C'mon, we're going." He grabs Chouji's arm gently, before the two were starting to make their way back to where they came from. Distantly, she makes out a cry of distress.

 _Oh god, please don't have Lee run over here._

Sasori's raises his head when the two are completely out of sight, a faint blush adorning his face.

"Boyfriend."

"Uhh-..." Sakura manages to deliver, fiddling with her chopsticks to put more vegetables on the grill. "Yeah. Sounded pretty convincing, didn't it?" _Shikamaru and Chouji bought it, at least._

Sasori says nothing, grabbing his own pair, and Sakura takes that as a cue to return to their meal.

* * *

Sakura was glad they paid for the inn in advance, because she surely would not be able to bring up the courage to flirt with another girl for keys.

The inn, because her own mother took great offense to her (Sasori) and him (her daughter) staying even in neighbouring rooms, god forbid the _same room._

She sometimes forgets that while Dad took a liking to Sasori - due to him being only person who would show a slight sign of amusement at her father's terrible puns - Mom really _really_ hated anyone from Suna, which logically extended to the tan red haired man next to her. Sakura never minded as much as she should, until she walked out of the bathroom and her very own mother was glaring daggers at her, while she could do nothing but look apologetic in return.

Naruto's offhand comment about her _shit taste in men_ comes to mind, and she flinches.

But hey, it sort of resembled the tragic predicament of the nice girls who were hopelessly in love with the small town's bad boy in her romantic novels. - At least, she liked to think she was the nice.

Such, they were forced to take out her savings to not stay with Chiyo, who snored, and therefore made a worse camping companion than Sakura herself, who swore that she was only making the littlest of sounds at night.

Alcohol really helps her with those self-deprecating thoughts, she thinks.

Case in point, Sasori kept a firm grip around her waist as the two were making their way up the stairs, while she was swinging between happy and depressing thoughts.

"Damn, you're a fucking lightweight." she says, her words surprisingly less slurred than they should be. Still, she's never gotten tipsy this _fast_ before, which means she sadly also has to deal with Sasori's tragically low alcohol intake.

Sasori, on the other hand, doesn't even look affected to begin with.

"Language." He fishes in her pocket for their keys with the hand that was wrapped around her waist, before leaning her against the wall to unlock the door.

"Don't tell me what to do, _dingus_." Sakura draws that one out, so Sasori could _hear_ it. Genius.

She isn't sure whether it was his or her breath that reeked of alcohol when he returns to her side again, this time hooking one arm under her legs and another behind her back, before she's lifted into the air. Like a princess.

"I must say, I do enjoy this new sensation of raw physical strength." Sasori says, while carrying her into the room with ease.

"Yeah" She waves her arm at him for emphasis. "These are noodle arms, I should get to working you out more if I don't want you to overpower me."

Sasori doesn't look he was planning to throw her in the general direction of the futons, instead preferring to twirling her around with the ease of a ballerina, making her hold on for dear life, her emitting a screech that wasn't possibly human.

"Hey, put me down, already!" She was beginning to feel dizzy, while Sasori's having the time of his life, rocking her back and forth like she was the weight of a rag doll.

"No, this is fun."

Oh, she'd definitely get her revenge when this jutsu is over.

"I'm going to vomit all over you."

Cue, her butt hits the futon at last.

She sniffs on her shirt, and grimaces. "I should have hit up Mom's washing machine before she kicked us out."

Sasori sits down besides her, untying the sandals he didn't take off at the entrance. "Living in your skin, I momentarily forget that your mother thinks I am personally responsible for her misery."

"Hey, she's really just old fashioned." Sakura chimes in, letting Sasori take off her shoes, too (because she was lazy, and she damn well wasn't going to try to unstrap anything in this state). "Suna and Konoha weren't always the bestest of friends, you know."

Sasori doesn't even look at her, brushing a strand of pink hair behind his ear while he works his magic on untying her bandages. "She's a witch."

"Alright, you win." Sakura wiggles her toes, watching Sasori roll up the bandages neatly before placing them next to the shoes. She was too drunk for debate, anyways.

The window behind her filters out the moonlight just barely, in return tinting pink hair in silver. They don't say anything, don't have to-

Except that her mind's swimming in all sorts of directions, unable to bear the silence between them.

Sakura decides then and there, that she hates alcohol for doing this to her.

"Hey, I-..." Sakura rubs her neck, waiting until Sasori returns his full attention to her "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, earlier. I know you don't like crowds."

That's not really what she wants to apologize for, but she hopes he catches the intent.

Sasori has his hands tucked neatly together around his legs, sending her a curious look.

Come to think of it, why _was_ she so weirded out by calling Sasori her significant other? Admittedly, neither of them had made the move to call it such, they both kept their letters fairly polite, rarely saw each other to begin with-

Hell, she's slept with this man before, yet she flushes at the mere mention of the term that would declare them a permanent item.

They were both pretty reserved when it came to emotional affection, anything that wasn't combat or science related, really, so that's-

That.

"I mean-" she continues, her mind stuck on that surprised look her gave her when she used the word _boyfriend_ , his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to lead that conversation further on, but decided against it. "Were you-...okay me talking to the waitress?"

 _What a terrible starter,_ she thinks, but Sasori is quick to reply to it.

"I threw paper with her number on it away while you were in the restroom, actually."

Wait-

"You did _what_?"

"Ripped it up, threw it behind the counter." Sasori says, gently scratching a bruise that was located right under her knee. "If I had to pin point it...jealously is the term I'd look for."

She nearly falls over, but her arm leaned against the blanket was doing her favors.

"You? Jealous? The impenetrable Sasori?" Sakura widens her eyes, before a laugh escapes her mouth.

She swears she saw a slight pout forming on his mouth.

"Well, I am sorry for making you afraid I was going to run off with that girl and leave you in the dust." Sakura smiles and stretches out her hand. "Shake on it?"

Sasori eyes her outstretched hand for a moment, unmoving, before forming his swift reply. "Hmmm….No."

"What?" _Don't tell me you're going to it against me._

"I believe... a hug would make me much more inclined to forgive you for embarrassing not only me but also yourself in front of that girl." He says, the curves of his mouth moving ever so slightly. She wants to say he's smiling but he's not quite there, yet.

"You're drunk."

"You, too. Fair game."

Nonetheless, Sasori scoots closer, while she clumsily drapes her arms around his waist. She tips them over, so they're laying on the futon, and he uses the opportunity to intertwine their legs

Romantic, she would call it, if her half of her mind wasn't clocked out, already.

"I missed you, y'know." Maybe it's the combination of toxins in her blood and the moon disappearing behind clouds, casting darkness into the drafty room and- he was so warm right now.

Sasori snorts. "That's a first."

"No, I mean it." She did, really did, thinking back to the gruel shift schedules she's had at the hospital, breaks that were constantly canceled in favor of training more medics, anticipation that paid of every time she saw a new letter in the mail box.

They haven't seen each other in so long.

"Nobody misses me, Sakura."

"No, I do. We're friends, y'know. Did-"

Sasori shuffles closer, slowly, until she could feel his breath on her lips. "Can I…"

He leaves the implication, so voices it out her for him. "You're okay with kissing yourself?"

"Are you not?" He throws back at her, and her breath halts when her eyes hone in on his lips - her lips.

Narcissism is definitely real.

Her arms are still fastened around his waist, and so she pulls him even closer, letting him capture her mouth first.

He's gentle - too gentle - and she's about to fucking lose it, so she closes her eyes and presses back, presses until he's on his back, and she on top of him.

Neither are thinking about consequences. Just the breathing, and the having.

* * *

It's not even October, but she's freezing anyways, so she's using the opportunity to share body heat beneath the thick futon covers.

"Hey, what did you say to make you Kakashi-sensei lock you into the dungeon for two days? It must have been really bad 'cause he can take in a lot."

Sasori doesn't respond, for a while, occupied with stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

"The Sixth?"

"Yeah."

"Called his father a bastard and a coward."

Should Sakura ever return to her formal physical body, she knows she has a lot to people to apologize to, Sasori included.

Sakura buries her nose in the back of Sasori's neck, taking a deep breath.

She would tell him, someday.

* * *

A/N: Done for SasoSaku Month 2017! Day 6, to be exact. Same Age AU/Bodyswap AU because my friends have great taste when it comes to ideas.

This is going to have a second chapter, because I do sort of have an ending for this AU, it just depends on what type of shenanigans I want to include. I'm always open for suggestions!

This also has a fully written nsfw scene attached to it, DM me on here or aprito. tumblr. com if you're interested! I'll give you the link haha

Don't forget to R&R! I'd really appreciate it...


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